Section 29 of the CGST Act, 2017 —– Cancellation of Registration - The petitioner sought to quash the SCN dated 23.2.2022, an order dated 8.3.2022 cancelling the registration and an appeal order dated 7.9.2022, rejecting the appeal of the petitioner on the ground of limitation. The court observed that the petitioner could not file its returns for the period from August, 2021 to January, 2022 because of the financial crisis faced in the business, on account of Covid-19 Pandemic. Though the petitioner had not filed any reply to the SCN, but the order dated 8.3.2022, refers to the reply of the petitioner dated 6.3.2022, which shows non-application of mind. Further in the next line the authority stated that no reply to the SCN has been submitted. Moreover, there was no outstanding tax liability of the petitioner. Though the SCN talks about personal hearing on an appointed date, no such date was also prescribed, thereby providing no avenue to the petitioner to present its case.

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court set aside the orders dated 8.3.2022 and 7.9.2022 and restored the registration of the petitioner and restored the matter to the file of respondent No.2 from the stage of filing of reply to SCN.